Oil prices were little changed on Friday as traders weighed the risk of renewed tensions between the United States and Iran against signs of improving crude supply from the Middle East.
Brent crude fell 3 cents, or 0.03 per cent, to $102.28 a barrel at 0350 GMT, after edging higher earlier in the session. The benchmark was nevertheless on course for a weekly decline of about 2 per cent, despite gaining more than $4 on Thursday.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude eased 19 cents, or 0.2 per cent, to $92.68 a barrel and was headed for a weekly gain of about 0.3 per cent.
“The market is taking stock of a distinctly mixed set of signals this week,” KCM Trade chief analyst Tim Waterer said, adding that after a volatile Thursday, traders were “simply taking a breather”.
Waterer said a stronger Saudi export outlook was being offset by reports of another US aircraft carrier moving towards the Gulf and China’s decision to restrict refined petroleum product exports.
Oil prices settled higher in the previous session following a Reuters report that Chinese refiners had suspended oil product exports for October as Beijing sought to preserve domestic inventories.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported that the United States was deploying a third aircraft carrier and up to 10,000 additional troops to the Middle East as President Donald Trump considered resuming strikes on Iran after the US midterm elections.
“The more immediate concern is the availability and movement of Middle Eastern crude and refined products to the rest of the world,” Phillip Nova head of market insights Priyanka Sachdeva said.
Sachdeva noted that oil at around $100 a barrel had emerged as an important psychological and market-positioning threshold, adding that traders were increasingly pricing in the possibility of prolonged vulnerability in global supply chains.
